Indeed, she said, she and other business owners don’t rely on other people — “There are other people relying on you.”

Lynn Pompei, owner of Pompei A.D., agrees: “My husband and I worked 14 hours a day, seven days a week, for over 20 years to create what has become one of the leading retail design firms in the world” — employing hundreds along the way.

Government, she says, “doesn’t do the work for you — it can only get in the way.”

There are no guarantees, of course.

But without risks, there are few rewards — just the sterile, cosseted existence that passes for paradise in Obamaworld.

Of course, the president also implies that if government creates most of the wealth, then government is perfectly justified in clawing back as much of it as it sees fit.

The better to create even more “wealth” — can you say Solyndra? — until pretty soon everybody runs out of money.